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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine's food supply system is crumbling under Russia's invasion, the United Nations warned, while Moscow tries to revive its stalled campaign with intense shelling of key cities.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping speak on Friday as Washington seeks to isolate Moscow from the one big power that has yet to condemn its invasion of Ukraine.
Civilian toll
- Ukraine's food supply chains are breaking down and the conflict is leading to "collateral hunger" across the world, U.N. food aid agency warned.
- Rescue work continued at a bombed theater in the besieged port of Mariupol, with 130 people rescued so far but many believed to be trapped, a Ukrainian official said.
- Jim Hill, a resident of Driggs, Idaho, was killed while waiting in a bread line in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, the Associated Press reported.
- Kyiv officials said 222 people were killed in the capital since the start of the war, including 60 civilians and four children.
- Border crossings from Ukraine have slowed in recent days but could rise again if conditions in the west of the country worsened, the U.N. refugee agency said. U.N. says 3.27 million have fled since Feb. 24, in addition to 2 million displaced inside the country.
- U.N. rights office reported 816 confirmed civilian deaths.
'Minimal progress'
- "Russian forces have made minimal progress this week," Britain said in a daily intelligence update. It said Russian attempts to surround Kyiv and Mykolaiv have been pushed back while heavy Russian shelling of encircled cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol continued.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a Moscow stadium and praised his country's troops Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Diplomacy
- Ukraine expects progress on its EU membership bid within months, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a call with the head of EU executive Ursula von der Leyen.
- After optimistic signals earlier this week, both Kyiv and Moscow described their peace talks as difficult.
- Poland will formally ask for a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit, its prime minister said.
Economy, markets and sanctions
- The International Energy Agency announced a 10-point plan to cut oil use as Russia's invasion of Ukraine adds to supply concerns.
- Moscow averted a debt default with interest payments on 2-dollar bonds this week, but faces a busy payment schedule in weeks ahead.
- Britain's media regulator revoked the broadcasting license of Moscow-backed TV channel RT.
Quotes
- "The tragedy of the war taking place in the heart of Europe has left us stunned," Pope Francis said in a message to a Catholic Church conference in Slovakia.
"Once more humanity is threatened by a perverse abuse of power and partisan interests which condemns defenseless people to suffer every form of brutal violence."
